Harry and Elva Potter Read the Books
by sorafallenangel11
Summary: How would the story change if Harry had twins sister? What if she went through as many adventures as Harry, only with her own group of friends? How important is Elva Potter to WIzarding Britain? Find out as Potters and friends read the books.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, this is now a proper story!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was a cold winters day on 3rd January in 12 Grimmauld place, and all the occupants - all the Weasleys, Harry and Elva Potter, Hermione Granger, a few of the order, including Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, - as well as Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom were all sat in the large living room, curled up on couches, armchairs or the floor.

On the coffee table in the middle of the room, seven books were spread out on the top, a note held in Albus Dumbledore's hand. Peering over his glasses at the others in the room, Dumbledore cleared his throat before reading out the words on the paper.

_Dear Everyone, _

_ Sorry for the surprise, but we felt we needed to do this so that you can have a broader understanding of what is going on. These books will help you to understand what the Potter Twins have gone through for the past four and half year in school, as well as what their home life is like. The books are to be read in this order;_

_Potter Twins and the Philosophers Stone, _

_Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets,_

_Potter Twins and The Prisoner of Azkaban,_

_Potter Twins and The Goblet of Fire,_

_Potter Twins and The Order of The Phoenix,_

_Potter Twins and The Half-Blood Prince,_

_Potter Twins and the Deathly Hallows._

_We hope that these books will help certain people's future decisions and help others understand what has been going on these past few years. Time has been set so that it goes slower to the outside world than it does inside Grimmauld place, so you do not need to worry about not making it to school on time next week. We have taken the liberty of cancelling all engagements and called in sick for some of you at your work places. You are not expected to re-surface until next week,_ _when you have, hopefully, finished the books. _

_Do not be surprised if more people show up during the duration of the readings. We hope you do not do anything drastic to those who do appear. _

_Before we go, we need to tell you that some of the things written, some of you won't like. We beg you not to over-react, or start blaming people or delivering punishments until all seven books are read and you understand everything. As the stories progress, we will also be sending some more notes so that things make more sense._

_Enjoy the books, some of it is quite good!_

_Sincerely,_

_ E.L.M, L.S.P, D.L.M and K.C.H_

There was silence throughout the room as the occupants digested the information given to them from the letter.

"Who are they? The initials are rather hard to make out?" Harry Potter spoke up first. He was curled up on a beanbag close to the fire, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley on either side of him. Luna Lovegood sat on an armchair behind him, curled up with his head resting against her knees. Neville Longbottom sat on a chair next to her, leaning up against one side with his legs thrown over the other arm.

"Does anyone know someone with any of those initials?" Remus Lupin asked softly. He was on one of the three couches, sitting on one end with Sirius Black on the other end and Elva Potter squeezed in between them, half asleep. Fred and George Weasley sat on separate bean bags at their feet.

Everyone thought deeply for a few minutes before everyone gave an annoyed shake of the head.

Dumbledore pursed his lips lightly before leaning forward to grab the first book _Potter Twins and The Philosophers Stone_**. **The old headmaster was sat on another couch, Professor Minerva McGonagall seated next to him. Professor Severus Snape sat on an armchair to the right of the couch, and Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody sat on one to the left**.**

Molly Weasley leaned forward from where she was sitting on the last and largest couch, her daughter Ginny beside her and her husband, Arthur on the other end.

"What's that picture, Albus?" She asked.

From her place in a semi-circle of five chairs, Nymphadora Tonks bounced in her seat as she listened to the answer, for she couldn't see it clearly from where she was sitting. On one side of her, two separate chairs sat Charlie and then Bill Weasley. On her other side, Kingsley Shacklebolt and then Percy Weasley sat.

Dumbledore peered at the front cover through his glasses.

"It appears to be young Harry on a broom, with Ms. Elva standing in the stands beside him." Dumbledore replied before clearing his throat and looking around at everyone in the room. "Should I start reading?" He received nods in return, and nodded himself before opening his mouth and starting to read.

**CHAPTER ONE**

**The Twins Who Lived**

Harry groaned loudly, and Elva sighed, burrowing her head into Sirius' side.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"You're very welcome!" The twins exclaimed pompously.

"Who are the Dursleys, and why are we hearing about them? I thought the chapter was about the twins?" Tonks asked.

"The Dursleys are our relatives, and I guess its about them because we live with them now." Elva said quietly, voice slightly muffled due to her not removing her face from Sirius' side, but clear enough that everyone in the room could hear it.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"What do they mean by that?" Charlie asked. No one answered, although Harry shrugged lightly.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **

"What're drills?" Arthur asked excitedly.

"They're a tool that has an attachment that spins and makes holes in things like walls and wood." Harry explained before Hermione could.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

**"**Lovely." One of the twins remarked.

** Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

"Delightful." The other twin exclaimed.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Fine?" Harry asked.

"Small?" Elva turned so that she was facing the room, and everyone could see her raised eyebrow and amused eyes.

Ron, Hermione, Luna, Fred, George and Arthur snorted.

"That boy is neither small nor fine." Arthur declared.

"Arthur!" Molly gasped.

"Sorry, Molly, but its true. That boy is not small."

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

"What could they be hiding?" Bill asked.

** They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"What's wrong with the Potters!" Nearly everyone exclaimed. Harry grinned at them happily whilst Elva smiled into Sirius' side, where she was once again buried.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

**"**UnDursleyish isn't even a word." Hermione sniffed

"James wasn't good for nothing!" Sirius exploded.

"Why would she pretend she didn't know Lily? Lily was brilliant, who wouldn't want to know her?!" Remus asked, incredulous.

Snape stayed quiet, though his mind was screaming profanities and the people who dared say Lily was good for nothing.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had two small children, too, but they had never even seen them. These children were another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with children like that.**

"We wouldn't want you mixing with a child like that either." Sirius said seriously to the girl leaning against him. He sent a look to Harry to show he meant him as well.

"What's wrong with Harry and Elva?" Charlie asked.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

Fred and George gasped.

"No, not the boring tie!" They cried. "Why would anyone chose the boring tie?!"

** and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Brat." McGonagall muttered, glaring slightly at Dumbledore

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Really, so unobservant." Molly tutted.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

Molly tutted again, shaking her head.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. **

"He's encouraging it!" Percy cried, not believing that anyone could encourage that type of behaviour, even from a toddler.

"That's the Dursley's for you." Harry murmured.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat  
reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

** Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

The twins' eyes suddenly got wide.

"It McGonagall!" They announced.

Everyone turned to look at the Transfiguration professor. She blinked at them before smirking slightly.

The teens all laughed at the expression.

"And only normal cats can't read." Ron said, imitating Percy

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"Well, he's easily distracted." Remus observed, raising an eyebrow.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

"What's strange about cloaks?" Ron asked. "We all wear them."

"They don't in the muggle world, though, Ron. People only wear cloaks on Halloween, when their dressing up, in the muggle world. They find it strange." Hermione explained.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

"They aren't being very careful, are they?" Sirius observed, amused.

Elva shook her head against him.

** The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"Short attention span." Charlie said, raising an eyebrow.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"He sure shouts a lot, huh?" Fred asked the room.

"He does enjoy a good shout." Elva said quietly.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk**

"He walked!?" Harry and Elva asked in unison, startling a laugh out of Sirius.

"No, seriously, if he had the choice, he wouldn't walk anywhere." Elva told her Godfather.

** across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Oh, that makes more sense." Everyone laughed at Harry's revelation.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"**

**" — yes, their son, Harry —"**

**" - And the daughter, Elva, wasn't it? - "**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"Yeah!" The twins cheered.

Molly looked about ready to reprimand them, but was cut off by Hermione.

"Its a figure of speech."

Everyone else kept silent, picking up on what day this was. Many of them sent pitying looks to the Potter twins, but they both ignored them.

** Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"Hah, he admits it!" Elva exclaimed uncharacteristically. Sirius glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow.

** Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had children called Harry and Elva. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

Everyone looked over to Harry.

"Hmm. . . No, doesn't suit you." Hermione said, her finger against her chin as she studied the black-haired boy.

"He didn't know your name?" Sirius asked quietly.

Harry shook his head.

"Still doesn't, I think."

**He wasn't even aware he had a niece, although he vaguely remembered Petunia complaining about her freak of a sister getting a daughter when she couldn't. He didn't think her name was Elva, though, maybe Evie or Erin. **

"Nice names, but I think your names better." Remus said, glancing down at the girl and placing a gentle arm around her shoulders.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if he'd had a sister like that… **

"He does." Harry and Elva muttered at the same time before grinning at each other. Many of the children in the room, as well as Sirius, grinned.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"We've seen the size of that man, and knocking someone down must have hurt." Fred and George declared.

"Hope he was alright." Luna whispered, causing some people to jump, as they had sort of forgotten she was there.

**"Sorry,"**

"He knows that word?" Elva asked, shocked. Harry had an expression showing as much shock on his face as Elva's voice had just expressed.

Everyone else laughed, except from Snape, who scowled at the book.

** he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, **

**"Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Idiot! He could have exposed us!"

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"His arms fit?" Ron exclaimed.

"Ronald!" Molly reprimanded.

"What!? He is really fat!" Ron defended. Molly tutted, but didn't say anything else as Dumbledore continued reading.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was.**

Hermione opened her mouth as if to tell him exactly what a muggle was, but Ron interrupted before she could say anything.

"Its a book, Hermione." He reminded her. She glared at him, but shut her mouth.

** He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"How can he not agree with imagination!?" On of the twins cried.

"Well, he did pick his most boring tie for work, so its not that much of a surprise." The other twin said.

They stared at each other for a few moments with serious expressions, before turning away from each other and back to Dumbledore. Hermione, Ron and Harry stared at them incredulously.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"How can you sit there for that long?" Elva asked McGonagall quietly. Everyone who heard looked at her curiously. McGonagall just stayed quiet, tightening her lips until they looked white.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"OH! Its McGonagall!" Sirius exclaimed. Those who had remembered it from earlier in the chapter gave him a blank look and he deflated, slumping back into his seat, hugging Elva tighter to him in consolation at his forgetfulness.

**Was this normal cat behavior?**

"No!" The twins laughed, sending a grin to their Transfiguration Professor.

**Mr. Dursley wondered. ****Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

"Wonder who wears the trousers in that relationship?" Tonks asked, speaking up for the first time in a while, which surprised some people as they knew how boisterous she could be.

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

"That's nothing to be proud of!" Molly exclaimed, disgusted.

"What bad parenting." Snape commented silkily. "No wonder Mr. Potter's the way he is." Ron glared over at the Potions Master, but everyone else just ignored him, though Sirius wondered why he only said that about Harry and not Elva.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. **

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted,"**

"That's my dad." Tonks said proudly. "He was a news reporter person a few years ago."

** said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have  
been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Bet the shooting stars were Dedalus Diggle, he never did have much sense." McGonagall said sternly.

Dumbledore chuckled as he remembered something, causing McGonagall to shoot him a suspicious look.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"If that stupid whale of a man figured it out, its a wonder no one else did." Moody said gruffly, not used to speaking like that.

"Yes, but he already knew about it, didn't it." Kingsley said to the room.

Dumbledore sighed before he returned to reading, wondering what the reactions would be when it got to him leaving the twins on a doorstep - he knew how protective these people were of them, especially Sirius and Remus of Elva.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. **

**"Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

"What do they mean, 'her crowd'?" Sirius asked dangerously, but nobody answered.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, **

**"Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Its the name of your father, you should be happy that Lily named him after him. At least she didn't name her son Dudley." Sirius sneered. Harry shot a grin over to his godfather, which was immediately returned.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He swallowed before continuing. "And they had a daughter, too, didn't they?" He asked, praying his darling wife wouldn't erupt. **

**"Yes." Petunia sneered disdain. "Elva. Horrible, silly name, I think, but I suppose those freaks think its normal." She sniffed and turned to leave the room. **

"Your name isn't common even over here. I don't even know where James got the idea to name you that." Remus said.

"My dad named me?" Elva blinked, turning to look at the werewolf.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Remus asked, his eyebrows lowering.

Elva shook her head, and Remus tightened a hand around a thin bicep, throwing an amber-eyed glare at Dumbledore, who gulped and refrained from breaking out in a cold sweat.

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.  
Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"A pair of what?" Remus growled threateningly.

"Freaks." Harry answered hesitantly. Everyone who heard growled, causing the people who didn't hear to look at them curiously, but were unable to ask what was going on as Dumbledore continued.

**The Dursleys got into bed.**

The twins snickered, but stopped when their mother, Ginny and Hermione all threw glares his way.

** Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

"This is the only time I'm going to say anything like this, but if only he was right." Harry said, glaring at the book in contempt.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"That is a long time without moving." Neville commented quietly.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Yeah!" The twins, Ron, Harry, Neville and Sirius cheered. Dumbledore chuckled, sending a wink of a twinkling blue eye to Elva when she grinned at him.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"Oh, I knew, I just didn't care." Dumbledore corrected, smiling as he glanced around the room.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed in anger when he realized the old man didn't look into his eyes, and breathed sharply through his nose, glaring at the man when he turned back to the book. If the man realised that holes were being burned into his forehead, he didn't show it.

** He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness.**

"Awesome." Ron whispered reverently.

Dumbledore chuckled once again, and slowly rummaged around inside his robes after he'd put the book down on the seat next to him in the little space between him and McGonagall, soon pulling out the exact thing just described in the book. Flicking it open, he clicked it, and the light in the lamp in the nearest corner of the room flew from the bulb and over to the held up rectangular piece of metal and was absorbed into it. He clicked it once again, and the light went flying back to the lamp.

"Its called a Deluminator." He told the group.

"I want one." Ron whined quietly, dodging Hermione's arm enough that it only grazed his side.

** Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.**

**If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"How did you know it was her?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I believe that question is answered in the book, my dear." Dumbledore replied mysteriously.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"Why did you sit there all day, Professor?" Luna asked quietly.

"You will see, Ms. Lovegood."

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

There were snorts around the room as everyone remembered the exact sentence being uttered. McGonagall turned a dull shade of pink.

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Eleven years are a long time." Elva said quietly.

Dumbledore nodded gravely.

Everyone's heads bowed as they recognised, finally, what day it was. Sirius' arm tightened from where it had moved to Elva's waist, and Luna reached out to hold Harry's shoulder as Hermione and Ron grabbed a hand each.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." ****She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"I think that is a bit of an understatement, sir." Elva commented politely. Dumbledore chuckled, reaching into an outside pocket of his robes, pulling out a paper bag, from which he took one of the yellow, cellophane wrapped sweet.

"Yes, My Dear, I do suppose as well." He said softly around the sweet in his mouth before returning to the book.

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

In the room, a number of people flinched, and Dumbledore, Elva, Harry and Sirius sighed whilst Remus smirked slightly at the rest of the room.

"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Harry recited. Dumbledore beamed at him, though Harry noticed that he still avoided looking in his eyes.

"And also increases the guy's ego." Elva said.

Everyone chuckled, and Sirius grinned down at his god-daughter, slightly surprised by what she had said.

** Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only because you're too noble to use them, sir." Hermione said.

Dumbledore chuckled as he continued reading.

**"Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

The twins gasped, jumping from their seats to point at Hermione, though one of them - George, Elva knew - fell over mid jump and ended up on the floor, though he still kept pointing.

"Mini McGonagall!" They shouted. Hermione blushed at them, glaring whilst everyone else laughed at the three of them, especially George falling over.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Not something we needed to know, Professor." Harry said cheekily.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Everyone looked sadly at one of the Potter twins, but they ignored it, steadfastly staring at the book in Dumbledore's hands.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"I did not know what to say." Dumbledore said sadly.

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."**

Elva chocked out a small sob, not liking the fact that it was said so outright. Sirius tightened his hold a bit more and pulled her until she was sitting in his lap, wrapped tightly in his arms. Her legs were spread out in front of her, and Remus grabbed an ankle tightly.

Harry had lowered his head, and with surprising strength, Luna pulled him towards her, and Harry only just managed to keep on his beanbag as he was dragged backwards until his head hit her thigh. Her small hand was soon tangled in his hair, and he relaxed as it pulled slightly on the strands. Hermione and Ron had kept their hands in his, and they had tightened as well in comfort.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"Nice to know you care, Professor." Harry told her.

McGonagall nodded, pulling out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's children, Harry or Elva. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill those two little children. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry and Elva Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a two little children? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did they survive?"**

"Yeah, how did we survive?" Harry muttered grumpily.

**"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." He took a deep breath. "We also do not know which child he was targeting, as you know that the Avada Kedavra can only kill one person at a time, but from what I have gathered the past few hours, it seems to be Harry who was hit."**

"How could you tell?" Harry asked curiously, but Dumbledore gave no answer except to continue reading.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

"What sort of watch is that, Professor?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Its an old family heirloom, Ms. Granger. Most Pureblood families have one to pass down to the oldest son."

Bill nodded.

"Mum gave me one that used to belong to the Prewitt family."

** It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry and Elva to their aunt and uncle. They're the only family they have left now."**

"No their not." Elva said suddenly.

"What?" Dumbledore asked, startled.

"Our father was a pureblood, he's related to nearly everyone else, and although nearly all the Potters have died out, there's a squib cousin somewhere in Yorkshire, and we're closely related to the Blacks through our Grandmother. And we have quite a few cousins on our mothers side, didn't you know that her family is really big?" Elva said quickly, straightening from her slumped position on Sirius' lap.

"What?" Dumbledore and Harry asked simultaneously.

"Don't you ever study our family tree?" She directed at Harry incredulously. "And didn't you check both out father's and mother's family trees? And didn't you grow up in a pureblood family? - I know they all learn family trees, didn't you?"

Dumbledore only just managed not to gape at her, but the rest of the room had no such luck.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

Elva shrugged, looking imploringly at the old man for him to answer.

"Yes, I did grow up as a pureblood, however in my old age, we tend to forget things."

Elva raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

**"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry and Elva Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for them," said Dumbledore firmly. "Their aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to them when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter?" Sirius asked lowly, almost getting up from his seat before Elva wrapped her arms tightly around his torso.

Molly pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! They'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Potter Twins day in the future**

"Oh my Merlin, there isn't, is there?" Harry asked desperately, horrified at the thought.

"No, My Boy. The paperwork got lost in the process and no one was able to find them." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes suggested that something else had happened to them.

Snape sneered at the boy, seeing the relieved look on his face. He couldn't believe the boy didn't like his fame, after all, he was just like his father, but he was beginning to have some doubts.

Pursing his lips, he looked over to Elva who was now leaning on Black's shoulder, and relaxed slightly into his chair, preferring the female Potter to her brother, and not having any problem believing the relief on her face.

** — there will be books written about them — every child in our world will know their names!"**

"Wish they didn't." Harry and Elva muttered at the same time, causing a small smile to flitter across those who heard faces.

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any child's head. Famous before they can walk and talk! Famous for something they**** won't even remember! Can you see how much better off they'll be, growing up away from all that until their ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how are the children getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry and Elva underneath it.**

Molly's face said what she'd do if that was the case. Dumbledore swallowed quite loudly before he continued, thinking of what she might do when she finds out about how he left them.

**"Hagrid's bringing them."**

**"You think it —wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life." Harry said strongly, Ron and Hermione nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, just not my secrets." Elva tacked on.

The others chuckled, remembering exactly how bad Hagrid was at keeping secrets.

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

"What is it?" Molly asked, worriedly glancing from Harry to Elva.

The twins nodded excitedly when she wasn't looking their direction.

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"That's mine!" Sirius said excitedly, removing an arm from around Elva and waving it excitedly in the air.

The teens all chuckled.

"She's called Hetty!" He said proudly. Elva giggled against his chest as she turned to muffle the noise.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. **

"You make him sound so scary." Ginny said, smiling at the thought of a scary Hagrid - it wasn't easy to imagine, after all, Hagrid was the big friendly half-giant.

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got them****, sir."**

"One of the best things I'd done that night." Sirius said sadly. Elva's arms tightened around his chest.

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol, though Elva's still a little awake." He said, glancing down at the blankets. **

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, were two babies, fast asleep. On the baby boy, under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. He was holding tightly to the other baby, who was a little girl this time. She was a bit smaller than the boy, with a clear forehead, though they could see a long, star like star on her left hand where it was over the top of the blankets. **

Harry lifted a hand to smooth his fringe over the lightning like scar, unconsciously blushing as everyone looked over at him.

Elva traced the weird scar, trying not to clench her hand as Sirius glanced down to see it. It wasn't as popular as her brothers, but most people still knew about it, and she'd always avoided touching people with it, although she was left handed so it was made easier by her having something to hold sometimes when people came to shake her hand.

**"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "They'll have those ****scars forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"Yeah, isn't there, Dumbledore?" Harry asked, almost begging.

Dumbledore just shook his head.

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"Really?" Ginny asked, looking curiously at her Headmaster, only looking away when her mother landed a small hit on her hand.

** Well — give them here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

"Well, if that's not cold." Elva muttered sarcastically.

"What did you do with them, Dumbledore?" Sirius asked.

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I — could I say good-bye to them, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over the blankets and gave both babies what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Hey! I take offence to that!" Sirius cried.

Those who didn't know of his animagus form shot him a curious look.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"Yeah, and like a giant motorbike won't." Elva remarked bitterly.

McGonagall developed a small red blush over her nose.

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry and Elva off ter live with Muggles —"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor  
McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry and Elva gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"You left them on a doorstep!?" Sirius roared, moving Elva carefully off his lap and standing up, storming over to Dumbledore. Molly was already there, shouting criticism at the old man.

"It was November! In the middle of the night! They might have froze! Didn't you think of that? And what if they'd woken up and crawled off - I remember Harry crawling, and Elva had already started to walk by October!" She ranted.

"And stray Death Eaters! What if they'd followed Hagrid, or decided a bit of Muggle Baiting was in order to get revenge for their Lord! Did you do anything to protect them!?" Sirius raved.

By the end of it, Dumbledore was looking a bit downcast, his head slumped towards his chest.

"I suppose I wasn't really thinking, not remembering how they could move back them. I hadn't seen them in weeks, so it must have slipped my mind. I did, however, know that no Death Eater would be able to attack them."

The two protective adults didn't look happy, but they both stalked back over to their seats, Sirius picking Elva up out of where Remus had wrapped protective arms around her and slipping her onto his lap when he had sat down.

Dumbledore sighed, glad to have avoided a too big confrontation, though he was sure they weren't satisfied and were sure to start up again sometime soon.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"That's not too good." Charlie commented quietly.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"Oh yeah, go celebrate when you had just left two children on a doorstep and two of your favourite students had just been murdered. How moral of you." Elva told him scathingly, though quietly.

Dumbledore didn't look up, staring at the book as he continued to read as guilt filled him.

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry, Elva." he murmured.**

"Thanks, we'll need it." They both muttered.

**He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"End of the chapter!" Sirius said, stretching his arms up above his head.

Molly glanced at the clock hanging above the roaring fireplace, contemplating something before turning back to the room.

"One more chapter before lunch, I think. We did start reading rather late."

Ron groaned appreciatively, rubbing his stomach for effect. Harry laughed at his best mate and Hermione elbowed him in the side.

"Ok, who wants to read next?" Dumbledore asked, looking up from the last page and pushing his half moon glasses up his nose.

"I will, Professor." Hermione volunteered.

The book was levitated over to the Gryffindor, and she flipped to the right page, taking a deep breath before she started.

**"The Vanishing Glass."**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**"The Vanishing Glass" **Hermione started.

"What could that mean?" Ron mused lowly.

"I have heard to incidences when young witches or wizards banish an object in a time of distress. This could be a case of one of the Twins' accidental magic." Dumbledore replied.

Sirius looked over at Harry, who grinned mischievously.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their niece and nephew on the front step,**

Both Sirius and Remus growled at the reminder of Dumbledore's choice of delivery, whilst Molly scowled deeply at the old Headmaster.

** but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. **

"What! How boring!" The twins exclaimed, putting a hand to their foreheads and pretending to faint. "How could it!"

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. **

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets **

"What?" Was the general statement passed around the room, confusion evident in each of them.

Elva giggled, whilst Harry's grin widened.

**— but Dudley Dursley**

"Its a person!"

** was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle,**

"Broken." Harry commented.

** on a carousel at the fair**

"Which he got kicked out of when he started a fight with someone when they brought the last chocolate ice cream." Elva said lightly.

**playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that two other children lived in the house, too.**

"Where are you, honey?" Sirius asked his Goddaughter quietly.

Elva just shook her head, burrowing her face into her godfathers shoulder as she squirmed in his lap.

Luna's hand tightened in Harry's hair in anticipation about his home life - she was best friends with his sister, and they had been dating since the Yule Ball in their Fourth Year, but she had hardly hears anything about their relatives and home - apart from that Hogwarts is Harrys home.

**Yet Harry Potter and his sister Elva were still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. Their Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

"Ohh, I know how that feels." Sirius winced sympathetically. "I hate it."

Remus reached over and punched him in the shoulder at the whine.

"It was mostly your fault you were waken up that way, Padfoot."

**Harry woke with a start. Aunt Petunia rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. **

**Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and spotted his sister sitting on the floor in the small space between their shared cot **

"Shared _cot_?" Sirius hissed dangerously, his arms unconsciously tightening around the small body of his goddaughter.

Elva stiffened and whimpered slightly at the tight grip, and Sirius immediately loosened his grip, lowering his head to whisper something into her ear, and lifting a hand to press her head to his shoulder.

"What does it mean Harry?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Exactly what it says." Harry shrugged flippantly.

**and the wall, reading a book she must have gotten from the library in the muted light from Dudley's old, lost, and then found by them torch. He looked up to the ceiling and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"It wasn't a dream Harry." The twins singsonged.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you both up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Yeah." Came the quiet voice of Elva.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want the girl to look after the bacon, and you, Boy, to set the table. And don't you dare let it burn, Girl, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Boy?"

"Girl?"

Remus and Sirius growled, Remus' eyes glowing a brilliant amber.

"Didn't they call you by your names?" Charlie asked, gritting his teeth slightly.

"They made you cook by yourself at that age?" Hermione questioned Elva.

The smaller girl had to push lightly against Sirius' hand against her head so that she could talk clearly before she answered Hermione.

"Didn't you?" She looked quite confused.

"Not without my mum helping me. We used to, and still do occasionally, bake things together. Its one of our favourite mother-daughter things to do." Hermione said.

Elva wrinkled her nose and turned her head until her face was hidden again, but didn't say anything.

**Harry groaned. Elva grimaced. **

**"What did you say?" Their aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing…" Harry replied.**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten?**

"Maybe because you didn't want to remember? If you don't want to, then your brain usually forgets about it." Remus told him knowingly.

** Elva giggled slightly at the noise as she heaved herself up onto her feet, being particularly careful of her bandage wrapped wrists, and slipped on a pair of too big flip flops Aunt Petunia had bought her to wear around the house.**

"What happened to your wrists?" Dumbledore asked gently.

Elva shook her head at the question, refusing to look up until Sirius pushed her away from him slightly so he could look in her eyes.

"What happened to your wrists, Elva?" He asked.

"You'll probably find out in the books." She whispered.

**Harry got slowly out of bed, being careful of his aching ribs**

Sirius frowned and looked over to his godson, who was determinedly studying his sock covered feet. Deciding not to say anything, assuming that his answer would be the same as his sisters, he shot a look over at Molly when she opened her mouth.

**and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

Ron shuddered, looking over at his friend in horror.

"Do you have to mention spiders?" He asked.

Harry just grinned at his friend, whilst Elva made a slightly frightened noise in the back of her throat.

"Hated them since second year." She muttered. Sirius only caught it as his chin was resting on her hair, and Remus because of his werewolf hearing.

**off one of them, put them on. Both Harry and Elva were used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and ****that was where they slept.**

A loud growl suddenly reverberated throughout the room, originating from Sirius' chest. He sounded frighteningly alike to his animagus form. Remus' face was pulled into an ugly scowl as he snarled at nothing, although his eyes were glaring at Dumbledore, blaming him for leaving his best friends kids with what was now confirmed to be an - at the very least - neglectful family.

Dumbledore's eyes dimmed slightly as he looked between the twins he was only now realising he had failed. He had never meant to place them in what was obviously a neglectful home, but he didn't know where else to put them. He hadn't wanted either of them to end up in Pureblood supremacist home, nor did he want to burden the Weasley's when they already had enough children. Their godfather was thrown in Azkaban before he could do anything, their honorary Uncle a werewolf with no rights to children but their own whatsoever. Harry's godmother insane in St. Mungos, and Elva's godmother missing, presumed dead, after fleeing from Voldemort's followers the same night the Potter parents were killed.

He was startled out of his thoughts when his name was shouted, and he glanced up quickly to see a rage filled Molly Weasley and a red faced, over protective Minerva McGonagall.

"You left them in an ABUSIVE HOME!" Molly shouted.

Dumbledore resisted shrinking away from her, but couldn't stop a flinch at the ear-ringing shout. He almost committed the grievous mistake of correcting her by telling her they didn't know the Potter twins were abused, just neglected. He managed to shut his mouth in time.

"You left two of my cubs in a home that locked them in a cupboard, together, and from what I can see, a family that hurt them. How dare you!? Did you even check in on them?!" Minerva's voice had started of as a dangerous whisper, but by the end had risen to a stern shout.

Dumbledore really did shrink back this time, and cast his dull blue eyes around for some help, only to see that no one was looking at him without glaring.

Sirius had one grey eye fixed on his goddaughter, and the other glaring fixatedly at him. Remus was keeping an eye on Harry, whilst the other, glowing with protective werewolf fury, was glaring heatedly at him. He had a tight hand around a thin ankle of his female cub, and with how hard it was gripping the pale skin, Dumbledore was pretty sure it would bruise and would feel quite sore sooner or later.

Luna's hand in Harry's hair had tightened, and Harry was wincing slightly whenever it was tugged when the girl huffed in quiet anger. Hermione had grabbed hold of Harry's hand so tightly, Harry couldn't feel anymore blood rushing to it, and when he tried to pull it out, it only got held tighter. Ron had a large hand around a thin forearm, tightening and loosening reflexively.

The others just sat in shock for a moment, before the Twins suddenly jumped up and turned to Elva, since Harry didn't look ready to talk, and Elva was easier not to blow up at, even though their anger wouldn't be aimed at Harry if they did.

Bending down to look her in the eyes, they frowned when she turned away from them, burying her face once more in Sirius' shoulder. One of the twins reached out a hand to grab her chin, and turned her face gently towards them.

"Elva. Why didn't you tell us?" They asked carefully.

"George. . ." She whispered to the twin holding her chin.

"We saw your bedroom, though, before fourth year. The bars, and the cat flap." He abruptly stopped at that, and though he had been whispering, he wondered why she looked so scared. He realized why when she glanced over at Moony, though he hadn't changed position from his two eye watch or his hold on her leg, so when she let out a sigh of relief, they allowed themselves to continue their questioning. But she interrupted before they could ask another question.

"Can we get back to reading, please? It's not that bad." She asked pleadingly.

Unable to deny the begging on that small face, Hermione went back to the book, though she kept hold of it with one hand, not removing the other from Harry, and had to grit her teeth to hold in her anger every few minutes.

**When they were both dressed they went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents.**

"That sounds like a lot of presents." Bill whistled.

"Oh, it was." Harry replied.

** It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. **

"All of which he soon broke." Harry commented.

"He broke all of them?" McGonagall asked, shocked.

"How did he break the computer and the television?" Hermione asked, confused.

"He punched the computer screen when he kept loosing at a game, and threw the TV remote at the tele when the batteries ran out." Elva sighed.

"What a spoilt brat." She muttered.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry and Elva, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"That had better not have been either of you." Sirius growled.

Elva shrugged and buried deeper into the man, whilst Harry averted his eyes.

** Dudley's favourite punching bags were Harry and Elva,**

"OK, he is so dead." Sirius said quietly, almost ready to push Elva off him and get up and kill the teenager himself.

"He dared to hit a girl?" Molly asked, scandalised.

** even if his mother had always told him he shouldn't hit a girl, but he couldn't often catch them. Neither looked it, but they were both very fast.**

"Too right." Hermione, Ron and Luna said, remembering when their respective friends had ran and they had found it extremely difficult to catch up.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but both Harry and Elva had always been small and skinny for their age.**

Remus and Sirius growled at the mention of the cupboard, but calmed down soon enough to say something to their Twins.

"Not just the cupboard. Your mum had always been quite small, and your dad, though he had always been of average height, had been skinny until about sixth year, when he filled out." Remus told Harry and Elva. They both grinned at the mention of their parents.

** They looked even smaller and skinnier than they really were because all they had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than Harry was and nearly seven times bigger than Elva, who also had to face the embarrassment of wearing boys clothes.**

"Do you still have to wear that that whales clothes?" Ginny asked, remembering seeing both twins in rags at the beginning of every school year.

"In the summer. In third year, we both brought our own clothes when we stayed in the Leaky Cauldron. We can't wear them in the summer, the Dursley's will just burn them." Elva explained.

** Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

Sirius and Remus growled at that, whilst everyone else looked over and examined Harry, who began to look uncomfortable after a minute of scrutinization.

Harry was still relatively small for a boy his age, no taller than 5'6, with a thin face that had high cheekbones and thin lips. His eyes were almond shaped, and the colour looked as if they were reflecting the Avada Kedavra curse. He was thin and slender, with small muscles from Quidditch and chores from the Dursley's. His hair was thick and shaggy, and hung down past his chin, but not quite to his shoulders. He was dressed in thick socks, comfy jeans and a thick green jumper, not the rags that must have been Dudley's clothes. He was wearing different glasses, rectangular ones that were rimmed in dark green.

"You've grown up well, at least." One of the twins remarked.

** Elva's face was just as thin, though a little bit more refined, with black hair that looked blue in some lights that was cut to her chin and amazing blue-grey eyes.**

Elva's face had filled out slightly, growing into her high cheekbones and thin lips. She was tiny, not even reaching 5' - which Sirius growled at now that he knew the reason why - and very thin. She was slender, with noticeable curves, though not nearly as defined as Hermione's, which Elva found quite annoying. Her hair looked even more blue, which most people pondered over, and reached her mid-back usually, though at the moment she had it in a plait. Her eyes were still an amazing stormy blue, an excellent mixture of blue and grey, eyes that Sirius had always remarked made her look like a Black - which the dog animagus had always loved, ever since her eye colour had developed. She was dressed in thick black tights with loose shorts and a size too big t-shirt.

"You don't look too different. You've always been tiny." One twin said.

"Remember her first year? Barely reached past our waists." The other twin crooned.

"Hasn't grown much, though." Both twins than said.

** The only thing the twins liked about their own appearances were their scars.**

"Seriously?" Ron asked his best mate, shocked at the thought that the smaller boy liked his scar at one point in time.

"I didn't know what it meant at that time." Harry shrugged.

"I always thought my scar was cool." Elva mumbled. Sirius chuckled - it was a rather cool scar.

** Harry had a very thin one on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning, whilst Elva had one on her left hand that looked a bit like a star. They had had them as long as them could remember, and the first question Harry could ever remember asking Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten his.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

Everything and everyone in the room froze.

"They told you your parents died in a car crash?"

"Lily and James Potter killed in a car crash? Heh, yeah right!"

"They lied! But what's a car?"

"Don't ask questions?! How are you supposed to learn?!"

"Why aren't you answering the questions? Harry, Elva?!"

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted over all the questions. "You aren't giving either of the twins a chance to answer. If you wish your questions to be answered, be quiet and let them reply before asking another." He lectured.

"Yes they did tell us our parents died in a car crash."

"Yes, I know the thought of Lily and James Potter dying in a car crash is unimaginable."

"Yes, they did lie. And a car is a type of transport."

"Yes, we weren't allowed to ask questions - not that it stopped Harry half the time. We learnt through observation."

"We aren't answering the questions because your not letting us, as Professor Dumbledore said."

"Now it doesn't matter. This was over four years ago now. We're here with you lot, and we learnt what we needed as we grew up, and we are currently learning the rest at Hogwarts and by our friends."

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule f****or a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

"Was it ever really quiet?" Elva asked thoughtfully.

"Unfortunately, no." Harry replied.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Elva was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked to the twins, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Not going to happen~" Sirius sing-songed. Remus chuckled at his dark haired friend, elaborating for the animagus when he appeared oblivious to the confused looks sent his way.

"It's the curse of the Potter men. Their hair is practically untameable, unless its grown long, but they don't usually like that. According to James though, Potter men seemed to think that their hair was a ladies magnet. And having your hair that short, Elva, it seems that the curse was at work at making it look like that, though it would work differently on a female, I suppose, as the curse was meant for male Potters, and there're hasn't been a female Potter in years." Remus chuckled at the interested looks of the Potter twins' faces.

"You really don't hear much about your parents, do you?" He asked sadly.

The twins shook their heads, but didn't say anything, so after a few moments of silence, Hermione carried on reading.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that either Harry or Elva needed a haircut. Between the two of them, they must have had more haircuts than the entirety of their class, but it made no difference, their hair simply grew the same way all the time - for Harry, all over the place, and Elva's, much too thick to be as airy as it was. Harry had always said she looked a bit like a pixie.**

"You still do." Dumbledore told the girl lightly, knowing from experience that the girl didn't like to be compared to the small creature.

Elva glared at him, beautiful eyes indignant.

"I am not that small!" She cried.

Sirius chuckled, grabbing hold of her thin waist and lifting her in the air, proving that, yes, she was positively tiny compared to nearly everyone else in this room, including him, and that if he wanted to, he could probably carry her around all day. She squealed, kicking out her legs. Chuckling, Sirius lowered her back onto his lap.

"You're not only very small, but you've got the small features."

**Elva was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. Elva had always told him that that was an insult to pigs, as they looked much more intelligent.**

Nearly everyone in the room laughed at that, even Dumbledore and McGonagall chuckling a bit.

"You two have got an awesome sense of humour." The twins gasped.

Snape sneered at the Potter boy, mentally thinking that he would say something like that about his cousin. He could feel his hate melting away though, as he remembered how they had grown up. He averted his own dark eyes when brilliant green glanced over at him confusedly, and glanced at the smaller Potter, only just refraining from sneering at the hold Black had on her. He had never held as much disdain for the girl, her acting too much like Lily and looking to little like Potter for that. But he still didn't particularly like her, just preferred her over her brother.

**Harry helped Elva put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Merlin! that's a lot of presents!" Neville exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Who gets that amount of presents for anything! And he's complaining!" Hermione gasped, shocked.

"That's Dudley for you." Harry muttered.

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

"Their still Mummy and Daddy at that age?" Bill asked, shocked.

"Yep, and in the house, they still are." Elva confirmed.

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. **

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over, and as he hadn't had anything but a piece of toast yesterday, he was starving. Elva, who barely ate anything, just picked at an egg off her brothers plate.**

"You hadn't had anything the day before?" Sirius growled.

"Why didn't you eat barely anything?" Remus asked Elva quietly whilst Harry shrugged to Sirius' question.

Elva just tilted her head side to side, in an imitation of a head shake.

"She hardly eats anything at school either." Hermione said suddenly. Sirius glanced confusedly at the girl, but when he saw where the intelligent brown eyes were looking, he too looked down at his goddaughter.

"I don't have much of an appetite, I never really have." She mumbled.

"You didn't each much as a baby either. James got so distraught when you refused to eat." Sirius sighed. "I remember you'd always eat anything with chocolate in it, though. Moony always was the best source for that." Moony glared at his friend, before sighing and shaking his head, smiling at Elva.

"Before your parents died, you'd spent most of your life with me, Prongs and Moony. Harry was almost always with Lily and her friends Alice and Marlene. He was a ladies man from the very start." Sirius winked at his godson.

Moony hit him.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right"**

"That is no way to handle a tantrum!" Molly raged.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"He can't even count." Hermione whimpered, not believing that anybody that age could be so stupid.

"Dudley's so stupid he makes Goyle look like a Ravenclaw." Harry compared.

Elva glared at him, having never liked him calling anybody stupid. Harry just blinked innocently at her, used to his sisters quirks by now.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

**"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"What bad parenting." Molly shook her head, a look of deep disgust on her face at the thought of a father encouraging bad behaviour.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry, Elva and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in the twins' direction.**

"Mrs. Figg? The squib?" Remus asked.

Elva and Harry nodded.

"Why was she there?"

The twins shrugged.

"I had Arabella stationed there to keep an eye on the twins. As someone accustomed to muggle life, I figured she was the best choice." Dumbledore interjected.

"And she didn't notice them living in a cupboard? Or the injuries, like Elva's wrists and Harry's ribs? Any others they might have had?" Sirius growled.

"If she did, she never informed me." Dumbledore replied gravely.

"She was a bit obsessed with her cats." Elva said timidly.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap, whilst Elva blinked in hopeful surprise. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, the twins were left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. Elva didn't particularly hate it, as she didn't have the same dislike of cats as her brother did, though she did find Mrs. Figg quite odd, and didn't like her that much either. **

"She didn't smell very nice, and she always talked about her cats as if she were in love. It was very creepy." Elva informed everyone. "But I love nearly all animals, so I didn't mind the cats."

Sirius laughed, drawing her impossibly closer to himself as he remembered her scream when she saw a spider colony in the corner of one of the rooms in Grimmauld Place. It was hilarious.

"I hate cabbage, and I prefer owls and dogs to cats. Cats have never been my favourite." Harry said. Hermione kicked him at the insult to cats, as she had her pet, Crookshanks. Harry glared playfully at her, whilst Ron slapped him gently on the back.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at the twins as though they had planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. Elva couldn't help but feel the same. **

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. Elva blanched without them noticing. **

Everyone in the room looked questioningly at Elva, who just shrugged and looked away over Sirius' shoulder where no one else was, refusing to answer. Harry looked worriedly at his sister, never having learnt the full extent of what had happened between her and Marge.

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the two of them, especially the girl."**

"Well, we don't exactly like her either." Both Harry and Elva chorused.

"Wait! Is she the one you. . . ?" Ron trailed off, not sure if everyone in the room knew about it, and not wanting to reveal it if they didn't.

Harry nodded, grinning mischievously.

"What?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Third book, I should think, if this is about our first year." Elva supplied.

**The Dursleys often spoke about them like this, as though they weren't there — or rather, as though they was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

"She's alright, actually. She just ignores us mostly. Gives us a snack, puts us in front of the TV and goes of to her office after giving a warning not to break anything." Elva said.

"Well, at least someone was reasonably nice to you growing up." Bill said grudgingly.

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave us here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer). Elva perked up, thinking how long she'd be able to sneak out for to go to the library before they got back. **

"You're thinking of going to the library when you could stay at home and prank your relatives whilst they're out?" Sirius asked, scandalised.

"You weren't allowed to go on the computer or watch TV, Harry?" Hermione said sadly.

Elva and Harry nodded and shook their heads respectively.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"She always looked like that." Elva muttered.

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"They won't blow up the house!" Sirius cried.

"Well -"

"- You never know."

"They might." The red headed twins said.

Sirius glowered at them

**"We won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

**"I suppose we could take them to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave both of them in the car…"**

"You can't leave them in the car!" Hermione shouted. "That's child abuse!"

"I think we have evidence of worse abuse than leaving two children in a car." Arthur muttered darkly.

**"That car's new, they're not sitting in it alone…"**

"Worrying more about the car then the children. How dare he!" Molly almost screeched.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"What a spoilt brat!" Charlie spat.

Molly looked like she wanted to protest, but couldn't find it in herself to open her mouth and say the words just on principle.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"Still don't know how they fit." Elva muttered in Sirius' shoulder. The dog animagus barked out a laugh.

**"I… don't… want… them… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "They always sp-spoil everything!" He shot Harry and Elva a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"What a horrible boy." Tonks said loudly, pursing her lips in a look that didn't suit her current face.

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.**

Sirius made a quiet sound of disgust, whilst Remus closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

Elva knew they were thinking of their once friend Peter Pettigrew, who was able to turn into a rat, and also knew that Piers did have an uncanny resemblance to the horrible man.

** He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Harry had experienced that enough times.**

"What!?"

"Bully!"

Ron and Hermione shouted, indignant on their friend's behalf.

Sirius glanced over at his godson, and saw the completely unconcerned look on the boys face. He felt a burst of sadness well up in his chest at the thought that the boy had been bullied by what was supposed to be family.

**Elva was refusing to look at the boy, memories of the boy trying to kiss her whilst she was being chased **

"What?!" Was a general outcry around the room. Even Harry looked shocked.

"I never knew about that!" Harry cried, angry.

Sirius pulled his goddaughter up a bit higher up his body, so that he could clutch her a bit tighter.

**causing her to want to hide behind her older brother. Dudley had always found it hilarious that Piers scared her so much. **

"What horrible boys." Professor McGonagall muttered in a thicker than normal Scottish accent.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Can't cry in front of his friends." Elva mocked quietly. Sirius grinned slightly into her hair at her tone.

**Half an hour later, Harry and Elva, who couldn't believe their luck, were sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley. The car was usually too small for four people to be sat in the back, especially with Dudley there, but Piers was thin and Elva and Harry only needed one seat between them, even though Uncle Vernon complained about getting in trouble if it was found out.**

"Then he shouldn't have let that happen and gotten a bigger car." Hermione muttered angrily.

**They were on their way to the zoo for the first time in their life. **

**Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken them aside, though separately.**

"Why would he take you aside separately?" Bill asked, frown deepening.

**"I'm warning you," he had said to Harry, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"He had better not." Hermione hissed dangerously.

"I was at Hogwarts for Christmas, remember Hermione. He didn't go through on that." Harry said, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead at the force of his best friend glare. Luna was glaring as well, though Harry couldn't help but think he was lucky she was glaring at a spot on the wall above Dumbldore's shoulder instead of his head, because he thinks he'd melt under the heat of two glares.

**"You do anything, Girl, and you'll be in so much trouble you won't be able to walk." **

If it was possible, Sirius would tighten his hold on the girl even more, but as it was if he constricted his arms even a bit more, the poor girl would have been left without oxygen. He opened his mouth to comment, but was beaten.

"What did he mean by that?"

Everyone turned to look, shocked, at the greasy haired potion master. He was glaring venomously at the book, and everyone could imagine him spitting fire from the heat in his eyes.

Almost simultaneously, everyone turned to look at Elva, only to see her face buried in Sirius' shoulder. Pursing their lips, they went back to reading/listening to the book.

**He had said to Elva, horrifyingly purple face splitting into the most disgusting grin she had ever seen. **

**"I'm not going to do anything," Harry and Elva said simultaneously, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe them. No one ever did.**

Minerva frowned as she remembered their numerous pleas to her about something and her ignoring their so then deemed small problems. What was she doing, ignoring her students?

Elva peeked over to her Head of House and saw the obvious frown, guessing what the cat Animagus was thinking but not able to say anything to soothe the old woman, remembering all the instances her pleas had been ignored by the first person they were supposed to see if they were having problems in school.

**The problem was, strange things often happened around the twins and it was just no good telling the Dursleys they didn't do it.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, their cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.** **While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Elva, the bank, Harry and Elva were just a few of his favourite subjects.**

"He sure likes you two." The twins said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. It worked slightly, but still didn't have the desired effect.

** This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." Elva facepalmed. **

Everyone turned to look at the suddenly red teenager, and many people copied Elva's action.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"** **Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." Elva shook her head, short hairs brushing against her brothers neck.**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than their asking questions, it was either of them talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think they might get dangerous ideas - not that that might be true about Elva. His sister was a weird one sometimes. **

Nearly everyone in the room nodded, knowing the many quirks the younger Potter had. Elva had turned so she could see the room, and when she saw the many agreements, she glared at them so hard that quite a few turned away. Smirking triumphantly at the reaction, she smiled at Remus when he turned concerned amber eyes onto her.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought ****Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he and his sister wanted before they could hurry them away, they bought the twins a cheap lemon ice pop each. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, **

Sirius and Remus shared a glance, both despairing over the fact that their godson and most probably their goddaughter had been so deprived of the usual childhood comforts that they thought a cheap lemon ice lolly was good.

"How in the world did you think it was nice? It was too sour and reminded me of Aunt Petunia!" Elva exclaimed incredulously.

**licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"Good joke Harry!" One of the twins shouted. The teenagers laughed.

** When he voiced his thought aloud, though quietly, he got a poke to the arm and a disapproving look from his sister,**

Many people looked at the girl, confused, knowing about her blunt sense of humour, and not knowing how she wouldn't think that wasn't funny.

** who then scolded him about insulting the Gorilla's intelligence, though she did agree on the resemblance. **

"Ohh!" A few people said understandably, getting it now. Elva smirked at them.

**Harry and Elva decided they had had the best morning they'd had in a long time. Both were careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting them - as long as Petunia wasn't looking, because as much as she hated Elva, she didn't believe in hitting girls.**

"Well at least there's that." Sirius muttered reluctantly.

** They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and the twins was allowed to finish the first.**

"What a spoilt brat!" Luna spat out. Harry looked at her in surprise, not knowing his girlfriend to explode like that. She looked down at his briefly before blushing a pale pink, the brightest colour that would appear on her pale cheeks and looked away, slightly embarrassed at her outburst.

**Elva and Harry felt, afterward, that they should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Oh no." Was said throughout the room.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon**

"Yes!" The twins shouted.

**'s car**

"No!" The twins shouted, and other people deflated as their excitement, too, was crushed.

** and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**  
**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"How rude." Snape muttered, aghast. "You don't treat any animals that way." Those that heard turned to look at him weirdly, but he just ignored them.

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

"Good." Snape spoke up again. "You don't deserve any attention a snake would grace you with." He almost spat.

Elva and Luna traded amused grins.

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake, seeing Elva's reflection come up behind him to peer over his shoulder, not wanting to crowd the glass for the other visitors. Neither of them would have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least they got to visit the rest of the house, even if it was only for cleaning and the bathroom.**

"You're not allowed in the rest of the house?" Ron asked appalled. Harry shook his head hesitantly.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"But snakes don't have eyelids." Hermione asked, confused, her eyebrows knitted together.

**Harry and Elva stared. Then Elva looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. She looked back at the snake and tapped Harry on the shoulder, indicating no one was watching and then widened her eyes at the reptile.**

The twins snickered at the girls response to the strange snake.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It**  
**gave the twins a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time."**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**  
**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?" He flinched as Elva hit him over the head.**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. **

**"Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?" Harry frowned as he saw Elva shaking her head at him in the glass.**

The teenagers, the younger adults and Sirius all laughed at the siblings' actions. Both stuck their tounges out.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. **

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry lost his balance and fell over on top of his sister, wincing when he heard her head connect with what could only be the stone floor. **

Harry and Elva gasped as they were suddenly being looked over for injuries.

Exasperated, they looked over at each other and thought;

'Shouldn't this have happened earlier? You know, when they found out about the cupboard.'

Both shook their heads at each other at the thought.

"You know this happened like, four years ago, right?" Elva asked, raising her voice slightly to be heard.

Everyone stopped what they had been doing sheepishly, before returning back to their seats as they realized the girl was right.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"Why couldn't either of you do that in class?" The Transfiguration professor asked quietly.

The Potter twins exchanged a smirk.

**Harry sat up, rolling off of Elva and gasped, his sister following his example less than a moment later; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

Laughter rolled around the room.

**As the snake slid swiftly past them, both twins could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigos."**

"What a polite snake." Hermione sniffed.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Poor man." Molly muttered.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry and Elva had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers ****was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for the twins at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, **

**"Harry and Elva were talking to it, weren't you?"**

"Idiot boy." Sirius said harshly.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on them. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, **

**"Go — cupboard — stay — no meals,"**

"He didn't!" Was gasped by half the room.

** before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"Drinking in front of children! How dare he!" Molly shrieked.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, his sisters deep breathing making his hear move into his eyes every now and then, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food for him and his twin. **

"No wonder you were so good at sneaking around when you got to Hogwarts." Minerva said sadly, pressing her lips together as she thought of the reason why they had that skill.

**They'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as either of them could remember, ever since they'd been babies and their parents had died in that car crash.**

"James and Lily Potter dying in a car crash." Passed many mouths angrily.

** He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died, but Elva had told him that she could remember something, even if she didn't know what it was. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in their cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. Elva told him she had the same sort of experience, although her pain was in her hand and she could also hear a woman screaming.**

"You remember that?" Dumbledore asked, slightly alarmed. Both nodded, but Elva was the one who responded verbally.

"More after the Dementors Third year." She shuddered slightly.

** This, they had guessed, was the crash, though neither he or Elva could imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course they was forbidden to ask questions. ****There were no photographs of them in the house either.**

"Keeping something like that from them; how could they?" Arthur said, shaking his head sadly.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation**

Sirius frowned, tear threatening to come to his eyes.

** coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys and Elva were his only family. Elva was the only one he considered family, however.**

Dumbledore's eyes widened at that.

** Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know them. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. **

"Diggle_" Minerva shook her head almost fondly at the thought.

**A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at Elva once on a bus, his sister had told him one dark night in their cupboard. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken both his and Elva's hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry or Elva tried to get a closer look.**

"Apperation, Harry, Elva." Hermione said primly.

"We know that now, 'Mione, but we didn't know anything about magic then." Harry said, rolling his eyes at his sister.

**At school, the twins had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and the small weird girl with the even weirder name and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"We do!" The Weasley twins shouted loudly, pouting for a reason unknown to everybody else.

"Alright, who will read the next chapter?" Dumbledore asked. "This one and then food, I think." Ron nodded, agreeing.

"I think Snape should read the next chapter." Elva said shyly.

The book was quickly passed to the Potions professor.

"Alright then." He sneered, opening the book.

"Chapter 3,

**'The letters from no one'**."


End file.
